A. James Berry {A.}
James Berry {A.} (~1690 - ~1756) is one of the two oldest, traceable people in this lineage bearing the Berry surname, the other being John Berry, who is here interpreted as being the brother of James Berry. Due to the repetitive use of the given name, James, in this family group, this individual is referred to as the elder James Berry in this report. While there seems to be a small body of unverifiable data that speculates on certain aspects of his life, there is very little information from primary or secondary sources documenting this man, and the few sources available merely record the last several years of his life. From the available information it appears that James Berry was probably born in northern Ireland or Scotland, and may have been married twice. Unsurprisingly, this data is quite incomplete and contradictory, expressing disagreement on his age, who he married, the identity of his children, where and when he emigrated to the American colonies, and when he died. Some sources claim that he had moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania before 1718, while other references don't place him in the American colonies until about 1740 when he settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia. What is known with certainty is that by late 1749 or early 1750 he had moved to Augusta County, Virginia. |
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Another, very indirect, source for tracking the possible movements of James Berry can be determined from a study of the Scotch Irish neighbors of James Berry. One researcher has tracked the John Davis family in their move from Donegal, Ireland to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania about 1740, and then a subsequent movement to Augusta County, Virginia about 1745.101 Another researcher has traced the Peery family from Scotland or northern Ireland through Philadelphia to Augusta County, where at least three plots of land were purchased in 1749 not far from the acreage purchased by James Berry in 1750.236 Both the Davis and Peery data matches quite well with the bracketed Pennsylvania to Virginia emigration of 1745 to 1750. The families of Hugh Campbell, Gilbert Campbell, William MaGill as well as the Beatty family follow a similar track, suggesting a northern Ireland-Pennsylvania route of travel for James Berry.36,100,116,118,169,248 |
Timeline of James Berry and Elizabeth ? (Unknown Last Name)
From the records shown below, which are primarily derived from Augusta County, Virginia court documents, the elder James Berry can be traced from the fall of 1750 through the spring of 1756. A note of interest is the double date for some early colonial records, specifically, those before 1752. Until the Gregorian calendar was adopted by England in 1752, the first day of the new year was considered to be Lady Day, a religious feast day, occurring on the 25th of March (near the vernal equinox). Consequently, the period of time from 1 January through 24 March, which, today, would be considered part of the new year, was, until 1752, considered to be part of the “previous” year.222 Thus, before 1752, original Augusta County, Virginia court documents recorded during this interim period noted the date using the old method. A date of 28 February 1750/1751 or 28 February 1750, would actually represent 28 February 1751 and not 1750. It should also be noted that (?) or __?__ within a transcribed record indicates places where the writing on the original document was undecipherable or a portion of the document was missing. |
27 Nov. 1750221 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 3, page 64
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28 Nov. 1750221 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 3, page 64
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28 Feb. 1750204 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Will Book 1, page 318
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28 Feb. 1750204 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Will Book 1, page 319
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29 Aug. 1751208 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Order Book 3, page 187
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29 Aug. 1751205 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Order Book 3
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28 Nov. 175121 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Order Book 24, page 439
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30 Nov. 175121 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Order Book 3, page 225
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27 Dec. 175121 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 4, page 244
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23 Mar. 175421 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 6, page 179
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21 May 1754209 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Order Book 4, page 252
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01 Apr. 175590 |
Rockbridge
County,Virginia Notebook
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19 Nov. 1755201 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 7, page 191
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19 Aug. 1755201 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 7, page 1919
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20 Aug. 1755201 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 7, page 191
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08 Apr. 175621 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 7, page 343
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08 Apr. 1756201 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 7, page 331
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19 May 1756201 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Deed Book 7, page 331
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21 May 1756201 |
At
a Court Continued & held for Augusta County
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Analysis of the Timeline
The
first documented record of James Berry in Augusta County, Virginia dates
from 29 November 1750, when he purchased 149 acres of land from Robert
Campbell in Beverley Manor along the Middle Branch of the Shenandoah River.
The location of this tract can be found on the Beverley Manor land ownership
map (Figure
3). The associated listing of property
owners are cross referenced in
Table I.
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The remaining entries, dating from April and May of 1756, record the legal proceedings involved in the requirement of the courts to check with Elizabeth, the wife of James Berry, to see if she agrees with the land sale. Under English law, although the husband actually owned the land, a wife may inherit her share (amounting to 1/3 ) of her husband's land upon the death of the husband. This claim on her husband's land was referred to as her dower rights or dowry. In the American colonies, it was common for the woman to give up this claim in order to leave the property free and clear of any legal obligations, but it was the mission of the court to question the wife apart from the husband to ascertain whether or not she actually agreed with the sale, or was being bullied by her husband.219,220 The 8 April 1756 entry notes that Elizabeth Berry was unable for some reason to travel to the court house, so representatives of the court traveled to the Berry household and questioned Elizabeth. This indicates that her husband is still alive at this point, for if he was dead, there would be no reason to question her. The court-appointed party returned to the court on 19 May with the report that Elizabeth agreed to the sale, and it was recorded as such on the 21st of May. |
From this series of documents it can be determined that James Berry purchased a tract of land in late 1750, and sold it to his son several years later. His neighbors are identified, as well as the location of his property, and he is described as an old farmer, who was still alive in spring of 1756, but was in bad health, and was married to a woman named Elizabeth. There are a number of additional entries from the Augusta County court records for James Berry, involving the guardianship and custody of the orphans of a deceased James Berry. From these records, it can be seen that in the winter of 1751, James Berry was designated the legal guardian of the orphans of a deceased James Berry, and by the end of the summer he was complaining, in court, about John Jones, the step father of the children. It is this series of records that has caused many of the interpretation issues defining the children of James Berry, which will be discussed later in the report. |
Guardianship of the Orphans
of the Deceased James Berry
“The Orphan Saga”
28 Feb. 1750/51204 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Will Book 1, page 318
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08 Feb. 1750/51204 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Will Book 1, page 319
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29 Aug. 1751208 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Order Book 3, page 187
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28 Nov. 175121 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Order Book 24, page 439
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28 Nov. 1751205 |
Augusta
County, Virginia Order Book 3, page 225
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Analysis of the Timeline
The “orphan saga” covers a nine month period from 28 February through 28 November 1751. The earliest entries note that James Berry became the court-appointed guardian of John, James and William Berry, orphaned sons of a deceased James Berry. At this time, an orphan was considered to be a child whose father had passed away, regardless of whether the mother was alive or not. In this case, as will be shown later, their mother was, clearly, alive. By August, James Berry, the guardian, appeared in court, complaining that John Jones, who had married the mother of the orphans, Elizabeth Eleanor (MaGill) Berry, had been “abusing” young John Berry. The decision of the court was to remove the young man from the home of his mother and step-father, and place him into the home of his guardian. By November, John Jones, the step-father was back in court, being accused by the guardian of taking the money from the sale of his wife's deceased first husband's land. This “orphan saga” has been the key to a major difference in interpretations by Berry researchers, and will be explored in greater depth in the following section. |
An Interpretation Issue
Since there is very little primary and secondary source material documenting the earliest existence of these Berry families in America, some relationships between individuals cannot be verified directly, and several interpretation issues have caused a great deal of confusion and disagreement among Berry researchers. The issue of importance at this level of the Berry family tree is the relationship between two individuals, here defined as the elder James Berry and the elder John Berry. The two primary alternatives for interpreting their relationship are: 1) the father/son theory and 2) the brother theory. Since the given names James and John were used so often in these families, it is not always clear which individual is being referenced, so to assist in eliminating some of this confusion, the two most senior family members bearing these given names, are described throughout this report as the elder James (as noted above) and the elder John Berry. |
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Figure 5
Beverley Grant Land Purchases
Figure 6
Borden Grant Land Purchases
When the primary source documents of the elder John Berry are examined in the next section, it will be noted that the first entry for him occurs in 1753. One of the first Augusta County court records for the elder John and James Berry and all of their male children (except Francis), is typically a recording of a land purchase or a reference to land ownership. While the date of the elder John Berry's land purchase is not known, the Augusta County document notes that he appears to be a landowner at least by 1753. While he is clearly not an original land purchaser in the area at this time, as noted by his absence from the Beverley and Borden Grant maps, most of the other people mentioned in this land entry owned land in the western portion of the Beverley Grant (as is noted in the portion of the report dealing with the elder John Berry). If the elder John Berry arrived in the area and purchased land in 1752, then he could have been absent from the area when the guardianship case was taking place in 1751. The elder James Berry is known to have purchased land in 1750, and, thus, could have been the eldest Berry family member in the area for a year or so. If the elder John Berry did not arrive in the Augusta County, Virginia area until about 1752, then it makes perfect sense for the elder James Berry (who is probably the elder John Berry's brother, but could be his father or uncle), to assume guardianship in 1751, since he is the oldest family member in the area. |
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Last Revised:02/26/2009